Updated 5:35 am, Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Raunte Colly shoots a basket during a game with friends at Brookdale Park in Oakland, which may begin seeking donors to pay for maintaining public parks and, in return, letting them take credit for their support. less

Raunte Colly shoots a basket during a game with friends at Brookdale Park in Oakland, which may begin seeking donors to pay for maintaining public parks and, in return, letting them take credit for their ... more

Oakland's Parks and Recreation Department is considering a policy that would allow corporations and wealthy donors to buy the right to name city-owned public parks, gardens and recreation centers if they pay enough to spruce up and maintain the sites.

"We have to build that money up somewhere," said Dana Riley, a spokeswoman for the parks department. "So how do you get that money? You aren't going to be able to charge people higher use fees."

The answer, Riley said, is to lure businesses and philanthropists into paying to renovate and maintain Oakland's parks by letting them take public credit for their support. Neither Google nor any other company has signed up - the city's idea for the program is still developing.

"They have put names on different assets of parks for hundreds of years. They name it after the mayor or a Girl Scout leader that did a ton of work," said Barry Weiss, president of the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation, a nonprofit that raises money for the city's parks. "But this approach is like what universities and hospitals have done for 200 years. They put your name on something in return for money."

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Shrinking budgets

Parks systems across the country are trying to find ways to pay for upkeep and improvements as city and county budgets shrink, said Richard Dolesh, vice president of conservation and parks with the National Recreation and Park Association, which advocates for public parks.

But few are going as far as Oakland's proposal, Dolesh said.

"You're treading on ground that is sort of an uncertain playing field here," Dolesh said. "But the notion that corporations and businesses want to have some of the best advertising space possible isn't wrong - you're associated with the public good and with making people healthy and well."

While some corporations and philanthropists might be eager to support public parks, Oakland must also avoid selling out too quickly, Dolesh said.

"If you're saying that a park is a sacred public trust, then we have an obligation not to ourselves this year and our immediate needs, but we want to hand that off to future generations," Dolesh said.

With little money in the city's budget for park maintenance, some run-down spots have become magnets for vandalism, gambling or drug-dealing - problems that could make a potential donor think twice before attaching a name to a park.

Trying to cut crime

But spending money to improve the parks can actually reduce vandalism and other crimes, Riley said.

"If you have something that is newer and well maintained, and any problems are nipped in the bud, then it will have less problems," Riley said. "The more people who are using the parks, the more activity that is going on and the less negative is going to happen."

The details of Oakland's proposal, which will eventually have to be approved by the City Council, are far from complete. Oakland has not figured out how much it would hope to raise through the program, what a sponsorship could cost donors, or how long it could last.

Organizations could pay to upgrade and maintain an entire park, or just a part of the park, like a hiking trail, dugout or recreation center.

Donors would never be able to plaster their name over a park already named in honor of someone, but they could tack their name onto the end of a park's name, according to a draft policy discussed last week by the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.

At Curt Flood Field near Fruitvale Elementary School, for example, a company or wealthy donor willing to pay to remove the gopher holes, install a new scoreboard and replace the run-down backstops could have its name on the scoreboard at the park, Riley said.

The name of Curt Flood, a major-league baseball player who grew up in Oakland and died in 1997, would never be taken off the field.

"It would never become Salesforce Park," said Ken Lupoff, executive director of the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation, which would promote the idea to donors on behalf of the city. "It is always going to be Curt Flood Field, but it could be Kaiser Field at Curt Flood Park."

At parks that aren't named in honor of someone, a corporation or donor should be able to pay enough to rename the entire park, Weiss said.

"If the park is Cedar Park because it is on Cedar Street, why can't you call it Google Park ... if they are going to pay to maintain it?" Weiss said. "The neighbors are still going to go to the park."

Commission's OK needed

Each naming deal would have to be approved by the parks commission and any names deemed "derogatory or offensive" won't be considered, according to the city.

"We will not have a one-size-fits-all policy for naming rights," said Barry Miller, chairman of the parks commission, which is helping draft the city's rules. "There is a big distinction between an individual that wants to name a bench in honor of a loved one and a corporation."

In Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills, residents said they wouldn't mind hiking on a trail sponsored by Chevron, for example, if it meant the trail would be kept neat and tidy.

"It definitely would be nice to see some money go into the parks," Nathan Edney, 31, who lives in West Oakland, said as he walked his dog, Walnut. "If people want to pay to put their name on something to keep it looking nice, I have no problem with that."

"There is no real maintenance up here," added John Reinthaler, 58, who has been jogging in the park for 30 years. "But things are busier than ever. I don't even come here on the weekends, there are so many people."

Still, Reinthaler said, the idea of asking for money to name a trail, or the entire park, made him uneasy, even if he didn't want to pay more taxes to spruce up the parks.

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